Rejected but grammar isn't wrong!

Choc212

Virgin
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May 5, 2008
Posts
4
Hey

Hoping someone can help.

I submitted a story a while back and a few days later, it was rejected due to the grammar surrounding speech marks. I was advised that anything like question marks and exclamation points should be inside speech marks but I know this already which is why I made an effort to ensure they all were.

I checked endlessly before submitting and then again using Word and, even after it being rejected, I still can't find an error.

Why have they said this if nothing is wrong?

Thank you
 
I was asking for advice on action to take due to an incorrect decision so therefore there is no need to submit a sample of the writing as it is not about that.
 
I was asking for advice on action to take due to an incorrect decision so therefore there is no need to submit a sample of the writing as it is not about that.

Allow me to disagree with you. How do you know if you're right or wrong?

You have to keep in mind that you could be reading your story for the 40th time and still not see the mistakes as your mind knows what you were saying and let you see what you "thought' you said instead of what is actually written.

I can't recommend enough a second or third pair of eyes on any stories.
 
Word's grammar checker is primitive at best. A frequent mistake that it won't catch is putting a period inside closing quotes when the sentence actually calls for a comma:

"I'm at your service." He said.

Word will usually automatically captalize the first word of a sentence and will read this example as grammatically correct.

The problem might be something as simple as the above, or it might lie elsewhere--but without a writing sample, we can't help you find the grammatical error(s).
 
I have always been a little bugged by punctuation involved with quotation marks. Specifically, something like: He stood up and said "Get out of the way".

Somehow, it never looks right to have the period outside the quotation marks like that.

Of course: He stood up and gave me a dirty look. "Get out of the way." I hurried to do what he demanded.

The quote is a complete sentence in itself, so so the period belongs inside the quotation marks.
 
Thank you all for your responses.

Especially LadyCibelle - because you are right in some respects. I read their rejection reason and was thinking that I must have read it that many times that I must have missed the obvious. But after another few reads and now asking a friend: I still can't spot the problem.

Not only that but I know how to construct speech - I have done it before - so unless it's a typo, I won't have made an intentional error.

I will email Laurel and ask for clarity/action (thanks to snooper)
 
Punctuation and quotes

Choc, I would have sent you a PM, but you have them turned off.

My only concern is that if you do ask Laurel before getting some opinions and perhaps corrections from a VE, you may be making yourself look very foolish by insisting that the site editor made a mistake. Maybe the editor did, and maybe not. Are you being a little too stubborn, perhaps?

Look, for example, at Boxlicker's message above. There are three problems in the two examples he gave.
 
I have always been a little bugged by punctuation involved with quotation marks. Specifically, something like: He stood up and said "Get out of the way".

Somehow, it never looks right to have the period outside the quotation marks like that.

Of course: He stood up and gave me a dirty look. "Get out of the way." I hurried to do what he demanded.

The quote is a complete sentence in itself, so so the period belongs inside the quotation marks.


Choc, I would have sent you a PM, but you have them turned off.

My only concern is that if you do ask Laurel before getting some opinions and perhaps corrections from a VE, you may be making yourself look very foolish by insisting that the site editor made a mistake. Maybe the editor did, and maybe not. Are you being a little too stubborn, perhaps?

Look, for example, at Boxlicker's message above. There are three problems in the two examples he gave.

Three problems? :confused: I thought there were only two.
 
I have always been a little bugged by punctuation involved with quotation marks. Specifically, something like: He stood up and said "Get out of the way".

Somehow, it never looks right to have the period outside the quotation marks like that.

Of course: He stood up and gave me a dirty look. "Get out of the way." I hurried to do what he demanded.

The quote is a complete sentence in itself, so so the period belongs inside the quotation marks.

Three problems identified? possibly putting the two examples together. The first example should read, "He stood up and said, "Get out of the way."

In the second example, the colon after the "of course" doesn't work. Either a period (with both the subject and verb understood) or a comma after "course" and the reworking of the sentence a bit.

However, in the American system there's no concern about where the period or comma goes with dialogue. It always goes inside the quote marks.
 
Three problems identified?

I'd hazard the third problem is that this paragraph --
Boxyloxy said:
He stood up and gave me a dirty look. "Get out of the way." I hurried to do what he demanded.
-- should be split in two:
He stood up and gave me a dirty look. "Get out of the way."

I hurried to do what he demanded.

However, in the American system there's no concern about where the period or comma goes with dialog. It always goes inside the quote marks.

Unless the speaker is quoting another speaker. I believe that this is proper construction, although I'm not 100% sure:

Boxy said, "I never said 'grammar Nazi'!"
 
I'd hazard the third problem is that this paragraph --

-- should be split in two:




Unless the speaker is quoting another speaker. I believe that this is proper construction, although I'm not 100% sure:

Boxy said, "I never said 'grammar Nazi'!"


I'll have to give you an "Eh what?" on the first example, as Boxlicker's example and your "correction" look identical to me. the real problem, I think, is that this is a case where a "he said" slug would help and be clearer.

In the second example, the quoting of another in the dialogue isn't the dialogue itself, so it doesn't apply to the guidance I cited.
 
I was asking for advice on action to take due to an incorrect decision so therefore there is no need to submit a sample of the writing as it is not about that.

Gads.

I know I've been drinking but this just made my eyes cross.
 
I have always been a little bugged by punctuation involved with quotation marks. Specifically, something like: He stood up and said "Get out of the way".

Somehow, it never looks right to have the period outside the quotation marks like that.

Of course: He stood up and gave me a dirty look. "Get out of the way." I hurried to do what he demanded.

The quote is a complete sentence in itself, so so the period belongs inside the quotation marks.




Three problems? :confused: I thought there were only two.

There are three, I guess, with one a sort of stylistic question.

In the first quote: 1) Comma after "said" and period inside the quote.
Second quote: 3) Paragraphing problem -- the dialogue by one person ends, and a new paragraph is noecessary when the focus shifts to the other person. This, I gather, is a common reason for rejecting stories. The fourth, and I agree with the comment above, is that the "Get out of the way" would read a lot better with a "he said" or "he snarled" after it.

There seem to be a lot of misunderstandings about whether punctuation goes inside or outside quotes. A few simple rules:

British and American usage differ ONLY as regards the comma and period. All other punctuation follows an identical rule in both usages: If the quote is a complete sentence or thought, the punctuation goes INSIDE. If it's a fragment of a quote that appears in a sentence, the punctuation goes OUTSIDE the quotes.

Brits are consistent; they follow the same rule for the period and comma as they do for other punctuation. Americans insist on putting the period and comma inside the quotes regardless of whether it's a complete sentence or a fragment in the quotes. Again, this is for periods and commas ONLY.
 
I can't recommend enough a second or third pair of eyes on any stories.

I agree whole-heartedly with you. I have an editor as well as a "beta" reader. The beta reader will often find mistakes that my editor and I both miss.

As for the discussion of proper use of punctuation with quotes, here's a good site that I refer to quite often for a variety of things:

Common Errors in English

And specifically on that page, the section on using punctuation with quotation marks:

Common Errors In English: Quotation Marks

Of course, there's always the Writer's Resources here on Lit that are very helpful also.
 
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